


long story short

by LizMikaelson, saltziepark



Series: and that's the thing about illicit affairs [2]
Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, You're Welcome, and basically psychic, domestic jazzie is a whole new world and i am so here for it, jazzie jazzie jazzie, lizzie saltzman is a genius
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:49:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29063865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizMikaelson/pseuds/LizMikaelson, https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltziepark/pseuds/saltziepark
Summary: Lizzie knows immediately.Well, not immediately. She’s not psychic. But the moment Jade asks Penelope about New Orleans and Penelope clears her throat and places an impenetrable mask over her face and then very casually mentions that she met Hope.By chance.For drinks.That’s when she knows.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson & Penelope Park, Hope Mikaelson/Penelope Park, Jade & Lizzie Saltzman, Jade/Lizzie Saltzman
Series: and that's the thing about illicit affairs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2132325
Comments: 19
Kudos: 105





	long story short

Lizzie knows immediately. 

Well, not _immediately_. She’s not psychic. But the moment Jade asks Penelope about New Orleans and Penelope clears her throat and places an impenetrable mask over her face and then very casually mentions that she met Hope. By chance. For drinks. That’s when she knows. 

She doesn’t say anything, no matter how much she wants to. 

Her suspicions are confirmed when Hope blushes the darkest shade of scarlet the moment she sees Penelope at her house. 

Oh, this is _too good._

She wonders for a moment if Josie would want to know. She decides that Josie wants to know. And Lizzie wants to tell her. 

Landon makes a scene because of course, he fucking does. 

Hope spills her wine and runs off and Penelope goes after her. Lizzie still doesn’t say anything. She better be getting an award in self-restraint for this as she sips her wine. 

Jade rants about Landon being an ass after everyone has left before zeroing in on her girlfriend. “You’re too quiet. You never miss a chance to complain about birdboy.”

“Who knows? Maybe we’ll be rid of him soon and Hope will find someone better.”

Jade observes her carefully, even as Lizzie busies herself with clearing the wine glasses and plates. “What do you know, Elizabeth?” 

Jade rarely called her Elizabeth. Only in bed and only during _certain_ situations. 

Clearly, this was one of them. 

“I _know_ nothing.” She places the wine glasses in the sink. “Penelope was kind of weird when you asked her about New Orleans. That’s all.”

It takes her girlfriend several seconds to piece the implication together. “What?! Babe. No way.”

“Way. Wanna bet?”

“I’m not betting on our friends.”

“Twenty bucks?” Lizzie suggests, wiggling her eyebrows. “That I’m right and they’re fucking?”

“No,” Jade says, but she says it slowly like she’s considering it. 

“Boring,” Lizzie complains and Jade reaches for her hand, spinning her around til they’re face to face, chest to chest. Lizzie inhales sharply. Self-control has never been a strong suit, but she knows a little bit about it after years with Jade. She tilts her head to the side, watching her girlfriend. 

“Boring?” Jade questions, and Lizzie’s reply is lost in the kiss Jade pulls her into. 

Oh well, talking’s overrated anyway.

* * *

Penelope gets sloppy the night she sleeps over at Hope’s, but it’s not like she’s the one who’s cheating. And it’s a little suspicious the way she’s over at Hope’s the night she’s back from a two-week trip. They’re so obvious. 

Lizzie thanks all the gods above that Jade worked late at the hospital that night, because she sees it as they’re heading back from an early morning breakfast run, their drive taking them right past the mansion. 

Lizzie turns her head, spotting Penelope’s BMW pulling out of the driveway, heading in the opposite direction. 

“She didn’t,” Lizzie says almost to herself. Jade, behind the wheel in a pair of leggings and a flannel, one hand on Lizzie’s thigh, glances over as Lizzie pulls her phone out of her jacket pocket, texting the group text she has with Hope and Jade. _A sleepover, Hope? We aren’t sixteen anymore._

“What’s going on? You have that look.” 

Lizzie giggles gleefully, kicking her legs up on the dashboard of their Q5 and Jade swats at her thigh. “Off the dashboard!” 

Lizzie promptly puts her legs down, still smiling. “They’re fucking. _And_ Penelope’s sleeping over. Landon never sleeps over. This is serious. It’s not just an illicit affair. This is more.” 

“They’re best friends. And Penelope just got back. She’s probably jetlagged and passed out at Hope’s house.” 

“They’re in their twenties. Do you still sleepover with your best friends?” Lizzie glances over at Jade through her aviators, an eyebrow raised. 

“I’ve been having a sleepover with you every night for the last five years.” 

“You’re cute, but that’s not what I mean, my love.” 

The reply from Hope is almost instantaneous and it definitely confirms Lizzie’s suspicions when Hope texts her back — _I have no idea what you’re talking about_.

“Babe, be nice,” Jade counsels her as she pulls into the driveway of their house, shifting the car into park. 

“Fineeeee,” Lizzie grumbles, accentuating her displeasure on the e. She texts Hope back — _Relax, Mikaelson_ and turns to Jade, putting on her best pouting face. 

“Happy?”

Jade grabs her phone where it was sitting between her legs on the seat and Lizzie sticks her tongue out at her girlfriend when she reads: _Lizzie’s just jealous we weren’t invited. We haven’t seen Penelope in two weeks either!_

“You’re a suck-up, you know,” Lizzie comments dryly before getting out of the car, grabbing her coffee and turning to Jade. “But I guess there’s gotta be one good cop and one bad cop. Good thing you look great in uniform,” she adds and Jade just rolls her eyes, smacking Lizzie on the butt as they make their way up their porch.

* * *

They’re sitting too close to each other at the Mexican restaurant. Far too close. And they’re whispering in each other’s ears. It’s nauseating. 

When Penelope deflects rather poorly about her time spent in Singapore, to which Hope gulps down her drink in one swallow, Lizzie burns with unasked questions. They’re so fucking obvious. 

Lizzie brings up Landon, floating a trial balloon over the table to just — check the temperature of things. 

“So! No pigeon for you tonight?” she teases and Hope narrows her eyes at the blonde before sighing. 

“Obviously not, since he isn’t here,” she replies, in a voice that brooks no argument. 

“You can do better,” Lizzie says, feeling the burning look from Jade and the hand on her thigh clenching, telling her to back off. 

“So you’ve been telling me for years,” Hope says dryly. 

“And I’m not wrong,” Lizzie points out. She knocks back another shot of tequila. Scheming made her thirsty. “Besides, Josie says he was a boring kisser.”

“Can we avoid any and all conversation of the bird’s mating habits?” Penelope cuts in sharply. _Interesting!_

Jade laughs, turning Lizzie’s head to kiss her. “You’re drunk, babe.”

Lizzie leans into the kiss, forgetting the game, forgetting Henelope (their ship name, Lizzie’s idea, obviously), forgetting everything for a moment other than Jade’s lips on hers. 

Hope and Penelope all but confirm it when Hope stumbles back to the table later. She had mumbled some stupid excuse about another drink and the restroom and Penelope waits thirty seconds, glancing at her phone when all she really was doing was watching Hope saunter away, eyes firmly on her ass. 

When Hope comes back rubbing at lipstick that was a suspicious shade of red, very close to Penelope’s, that’s nearly the final nail in the coffin. 

Checkmate, Lizzie thinks, cheersing herself as she downs another shot.

* * *

And then the gallery show happens and — well, Lizzie loves being right. It’s a burden and a full-time job, but someone’s gotta do it. 

Because it’s actually a fun night. Even the part when Hope and Penelope disappear together for twenty minutes and come back with wrinkled dresses. 

And then Landon, bless his fucking heart, gets down on one knee and it’s like Christmas has come early. 

Hope flees from the room and no one says a word until Lizzie knocks back her glass of champagne, turning swiftly to the bartender who seemed to be methodically cleaning the same glass over and over, head ducked low.

“You owe me twenty bucks,” she says to Jade after she pours herself another glass of champagne, sidling back to her girlfriend. Jade says nothing, eyes on the floor before she glances at Landon, who was still kneeling, frozen in place. “What? This is a celebration!”

“Landon,” Raf begins but falls silent a moment later, speechless.

“You knew?” Landon asks, his voice like gravel as he looks at Lizzie, who rolls her eyes, sighing loudly.

“They were, I mean — it doesn’t matter, Landon,” she admits, hoping that the use of his name, his actual name, and not a nickname for the first time in years would mean something. Anything “I could be wrong. I’m never wrong, obviously. But I could be wrong about this.”

“How could she just —? With her — ?”

“Bro,” Raf tries again, but he’s cringing at himself.

“A toast!” Lizzie tries and Raf looks like he might actually strangle her. Jade too. Lizzie knows she’s walking a tightrope but damn it if she didn’t love an audience.

“To your freedom, bird boy! You can finally become a fully-fledged squab and flee the nest and fly south for the winter. Spread your wings or whatever. Maybe it’ll be good for you.”

“Lizzie, you aren’t helping,” M.G. says and the blonde just shrugs, again knocking back her glass of champagne in one fell swoop.

“Babe,” Jade cautions, and Lizzie sighs again, tapping the toe of her Doc against the wooden floor, a hand shoved deep in her slacks. 

Fine. She can give it five minutes and text Josie.

“Why — why her?” Landon stutters out.

“Well, she is hot. She’s the daughter of the devil, but still hot,” Lizzie states as Jade groans next to her, quickly reaching for the champagne to fill up Lizzie’s glass. “She’s also wealthy, driven, has a great fashion sen—”

“Please, drink and don't speak,” Jade whispers, winking at M.G. 

* * *

They’re the last to leave after M.G. and Kym have said their goodbyes and Raf has led a cursing, ranting Landon away. 

Lizzie enjoys the quiet, curling deeper into Jade, who’s sitting in the booth beside her. They abandoned the private room and the bar’s almost empty now and it’s nice. “Josie owes me twenty bucks, too.”

Jade presses a kiss to the line of her neck, the kind of kiss that sends shivers down Lizzie’s spine even after all the years they’ve spent together. “Josie, much like me, said she wouldn’t bet on our friends’ love lives.”

“Spoilsport,” Lizzie pouts.

“I’ll make it up to you,” Jade offers, punctuating her statement with another kiss. “I texted Penelope.”

Lizzie hums, tilting her neck to give Jade better access. She’s got all kinds of thoughts of how they can end the night. But she definitely wants to hear the gossip first. 

“What did you say?”

“To let us know if she needs anything. You smell delicious.”

“You told her she smelled delicious?” Lizzie grins. 

Jade’s lips linger over her pulse point. “You know I’m talking about you.” Her fingers slide up and down Lizzie’s side and across her arm. “Anyway, I just wanted her to know that she has somebody in her corner.”

“I’m in her corner. More than in the mud hobbit’s corner, definitely.” 

“You’re in Hope’s corner,” Jade’s teeth scrape over her skin, gently. “Where you should be.”

Lizzie sighs with content, leaning back until there’s not an inch of space between them. “Did Penelope ever text you back?”

“No. I didn’t really expect her to.” 

“She loves her,” Lizzie says sagely, and Jade nuzzles her neck. “Hope’s never — she’s always done the _right_ thing, which is boring. But Satan sure isn’t boring.” 

“Maybe Hope was tired of doing the right thing for once.” 

“About time,” Lizzie sighs, as Jade’s hands slide over her waist, pushing her shirt up just an inch. “I’ll tell Josie to call her and talk some sense into her. She probably has more tact than I do.”

“Probably,” Jade chuckles against her neck, the vibrations sending goosebumps over Lizzie’s skin. “Though I suppose some hard truths also wouldn’t hurt her.”

“Hope knows the truth, she just needs to face it.”

Jade presses a kiss below her ear lobe and Lizzie groans, low. They need to get the fuck out of here. She turns her head enough to be able to kiss Jade properly, enjoying the taste of champagne and the soft feel of Jade’s lips against hers. “So, are you going to fuck me here or take me home?”

The hitch in Jade’s breath is absolutely delightful. “We’re leaving,” is all she says. 

Lizzie stops long enough to grab the unopened bottle of champagne from the table and toss it into her bag. Penelope’s already paid for it. There’s no use in being wasteful. 

Jade’s got her pressed up against the wall of the parking garage almost as soon as they’re outside, and Lizzie nearly loses herself in the kiss. She siphons from Jade and the heady rush makes her weak in the knees. They have a perfectly good bed at home, sure, but with Jade pressed up against her, it seems so damn far away. 

Jade’s hands slide up her shirt and she breaks the kiss to leave marks on Lizzie’s throat, and fuck, this feels almost too good to be true. “Can I taste you?” 

Lizzie moans, louder than she probably should, but when she looks around, the garage is empty. 

She slides her hands down Jade’s back, pulling her closer. “Yeah — god — yeah.” Jade’s one hand remains on Lizzie’s lower back, the other grasps at her neck, tilting Lizzie’s neck up and back, and Lizzie feels herself growing wet at the thought of the rush — 

Fangs scrape over Lizzie’s skin and the sudden piercing shouldn’t make her jerk into Jade’s arms, but it does, her brain processing hurt and then a jolt of pleasure running through her body, through her veins. Her legs are weak and she feels herself grow wet, amplifying the longer that Jade drinks from her. It’s always been like this — a euphoric rush that leaves her teetering on the edge right before Jade pulls away, wiping at her mouth and then kissing Lizzie, tasting of copper and iron.

Over the years, Lizzie’s gotten used to the taste of blood, but she’s never gotten used to the heady rush that comes with the first feeling of Jade’s teeth at her neck. 

The same longing and hunger she feels for Jade, she knows it’s mirrored back to her. She craves the vampire just as Jade craves her. 

Jade lifts her head, kissing at her neck with the warmest of lips, and then fumbles at Lizzie’s pants, her hand slipping between them as Lizzie clings to her, to the wall to stay upright, to reality. Jade thrusts her fingers so deep inside of her that Lizzie knows she can see stars, fingers digging into Jade’s back and shoulders, a moan breaking through her lips again as she rides her hand. 

Jade covers her lips with her own. “Be quiet, baby,” she reminds Lizzie who nods her head quickly. Jade licks her tongue along Lizzie’s bottom lip, and if her legs hadn’t threatened to give way earlier, they nearly do now, but Jade keeps her steady, even as her hand slides in and out of her, her thumb circling her clit. 

“Be realistic,” Lizzie gasps out, and Jade laughs against her lips, before dropping her mouth back to Lizzie’s neck, savoring the remaining droplets of blood, licking at the twin circles on Lizzie’s neck, her saliva coating the wounds and healing them almost instantly. 

Jade’s fingers move faster as Lizzie holds her close, wrapping a leg around the vampire to diminish the remaining distance between them. She gasps out Jade’s name as she comes, probably too loud, but she can’t bring herself to care. Not with Jade’s fingers inside of her and her mouth on Lizzie’s neck. 

She catches her breath as Jade carefully moves out of her, her free arm still wrapped around Lizzie. She looks so fucking gorgeous, Lizzie thinks, her hair tousled and her lips kiss swollen and they really need to be in a bed right now. “Can you get us home?” she requests and Jade nods, before pulling her closer. 

She’s never been so thankful for vampire super-speed as when Jade hurries them home because Lizzie needs her girlfriend naked and in a bed absolutely right now. She’s also in no fit state to drive. The proposal and the sweet taste of victory had prompted her to drink far too much champagne and the blood loss was working against her favor too. Thankfully, Jade had only had one glass with dinner. 

She was so responsible. And pretty. And smart. And — the remainder of her thoughts are lost as Jade sets her down on their bed, moving away to pull her shirt over her head before she covers Lizzie’s body with her own. 

Much, much later, sated and sleepy and curling into Jade, Lizzie can’t help the smile that crosses her face. She never thought that she would have this, the kind of love that’s crept into every fiber of her being, that makes her feel both giddy and safe and makes everything feel all kinds of perfect. 

She’ll call Josie tomorrow. She’ll try Hope first of course, but she’s fairly certain that what Hope needs right now is more reassurance than Lizzie’s particular brand of honesty. 

Lizzie presses a kiss to Jade’s shoulder, humming with contentment. “That was a shit proposal, anyway. I expect better.” Her fingers trace up and down Jade’s back, scratches from earlier fading. 

“Oh, so I’m proposing now?” 

“You’re older, technically.” 

“Need I remind you that’s your dad’s fault, not mine.”

“Please don’t bring him up when I’m naked.” 

Jade chuckles, turning over so she can kiss Lizzie. “Alright. I can probably do better than that.”

“You better. Or I’ll pull a Hope and run.” Lizzie smirks, and Jade just shakes her head, closing her eyes. 

“As if anyone would put up with you the way I do.” 

Lizzie pouts and Jade opens one eye, laughing. “No running,” she says. 

Lizzie sighs, curling back into Jade, her head on her shoulder. “Fine. No running. I like you too much, anyway.”

That’s settled, then. 


End file.
